A Moonless Night
by Fenixx.Kurusai
Summary: AU. Everyone remembers the iconic battle of wills and ideals between Ichigo Kurosaki and Byakuya Kuchiki on top of Sokyoku Hill; but would happen if it ended differently? What if Ichigo didn't win? And what if, by some force of will, 'Hollow Ichigo' overpowered 'Zangetsu' and let his true place in Ichigo's soul become known?
1. Prologue: Failure

A/N: Hello everyone, to my nice little story that I'm gonna try to make. To be brutally honest, I doubt this will get far, as my muse is very temperamental and doesn't like to do what I say. I will do my best to focus and work on this whenever I can, but I have no set update times, so I can't promise anything.

This is an AU, so some things may be changed, like Ichigo's powers ***nudge, nudge, wink, wink***.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

So, enjoy the prologue:

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A Moonless Night

Prologue: Failure

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Cold.

That is what he feels. Looking down at the blade in his chest, he began considering where it all went wrong:

_Flashback_

_Dozens of blades surrounded two warriors in a dark dome. One, named Ichigo Kurosaki, looked around him, observing the blades in awe, curiosity, and slight worry. He was a strange looking individual, with bright orange, spiky hair, and a black robe-like coat; He was tall and slim, but quite obviously muscled. He held a long, black blade in his hands.  
_

_The man standing across from him was a different story however. He was tall, but not overly so, and had long black hair. Along with this he wore a white haori and Kenseikan, giving him a specifically regal looking appearance. __ In his hands,_ he held a bright silver blade.  


"_This is the true form of my bankai: Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." Ichigo Kurosaki's enemy, Byakuya Kuchiki, Informed him, "I have only shown this form to one other, so consider yourself privileged to be killed by my own hand."_

_Ichigo looked incredibly irritated at this, and just braced himself to continue his battle. __**Why are all soul reapers arrogant or crazy**__, he mentally griped._

_After a short moment of silence both warriors clashed in a series of high-speed attacks, neither seeming to gain an edge. But if an experienced individual looked closely, he would see the orange-haired teen slowing slightly, as if his body couldn't react fast enough. After a couple of clashes both warriors reached a stalemate in a blade-lock._

"_I get it, so this technique of yours speeds you up, eh?" Ichigo asked, voice slightly strained as he pushed against the older male's blade._

_The black-haired man seemed somewhat amused at this statement, but said nothing as he spawned another blade and stabbed the younger male in the foot, pinning him to the spot. Ichigo grunted heavily in pain._

"_No, Ichigo Kurosaki, Senkei does no such thing. It is not I that gotten faster, but you, that has gotten slower." Byakuya remarked calmly, surprising the orange-haired teen, "and as much as I would like to show you the gap in our power, I no longer have time for this."_

_The Kuchiki clan head swiftly pulled his second blade out of the youth's foot and stabbed him in the chest, piercing his heart._

_End Flashback_

"Your determination to protect is admirable, Ichigo Kurosaki, but you have failed. You never had a chance of saving Rukia from her fate, nor of standing against the Gotei 13." With this, the older man pulled the blade out of the teen's chest and sealed his sword.

Ichigo couldn't move as he fell to the ground. He couldn't speak as he watched the older male walk away. And soon he couldn't see as the blood loss began to take its toll. But even through all this, he still clearly heard the next three words:

"Goodbye, Ichigo Kurosaki."

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Yep, so that's chapter 0, also known at the prologue. I don't know how good it is so reviews are welcomed, as long as they aren't pointless flaming. If they criticize my work logically and tell me how to improve, I don't care if they are negative or not.

As of this point I doubt I'll tell who 'Old Man Zangetsu' really is for a while. If you've kept up on the manga you'll know, but I haven't read the manga, and only know general details, so I'm sorry to say I am keeping that on the down-low for now.


	2. Chapter 1: Despair and Identity?

A/N Welcome again to A Moonless Night. I couldn't sleep last night and decided to type some more of the fic out, so here you go ladies and gentlemen, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

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A Moonless Night

Chapter 1: Despair... and Identity?

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"Speaking"

_Thoughts_

"**Hollow Ichigo"**

"Old Man Zangetsu"

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Dull, lifeless eyes stared ahead, seeing but not seeing, as an orange-haired teen slowly sank down into a city under the sea.

_This is the end_, Ichigo lamented, _I guess I'm not surprised though_.

"I am human, they are death gods. How could I have won anyways?" Ichigo asked, not really expecting an answer, "I'm just an ant to them, weak and pitiful. And now I pay the price for messing with them."

**"Why are you giving up now, Ichigo?"**

Eyes slightly widening, Ichigo drifted on to the side of a skyscraper and landed on his back. Slowly standing up he looked at his souls inhabitant.

'_Inhabitants_', he silently corrected himself.

On the side of the skyscraper stood two beings. One standing, tall and dark, on a flagpole, glaring hardly at the other figure.

The other figure was Himself, or at least appeared so, but with obvious differences. This figure was white, like he took a bath with bleach, and was staring intently at Ichigo, pointedly ignoring the other man.

"What are you doing here, Hollow? You should still be imprisoned." The dark man remarked darkly.

"**Look around you, Old Man, this place is falling apart. Did you really think I would stay ****imprisoned in a situation like this, or is your eyesight failing? Maybe your going Senile!**" The white one, Hollow, said with sarcasm and mocked concern. The Old Man growled.

"Er...Hey, I'm right here you know?!" Ichigo stated, trying to get his inner spirits on track, confused on why he was here.

"**Sorry 'bout that Ichigo**," The hollow stated, "**Zangetsu**", he said rather sarcastically, "**Really is a jerk sometimes, I just can't help myself!**"

"I wouldn't have to be if you did as told," Zangetsu said.

"So is there a reason I'm here, I'm pretty sure people don't get stuck in their inner world when dying!" Ichigo stated forcefully.

"**Dying? When did you ever figure you were dying Ichigo? I would never let you die!**" Hollow remarked, seeming serious and somewhat depressed.

Ichigo was taken aback,"Well, being stabbed in the heart is normally fatal..." Ichigo trailed off at the hollow's grin.

"**Oh really Ichigo, then how were you alive until now, considering Rukia stabbed her blade into your heart that night?**" Hollow remarked, amused. His face soon turned serious however, "**Anyways, I brought you here, Ichigo. To tell you the truth.**"

"You Wouldn't Dare." Zangetsu said threateningly from behind him.

"**I'm not very sorry to tell you, Old Man, that you couldn't stop me anyways. The influx of power Byakuya Kuchiki unknowingly gave me makes me more powerful than you. Enjoy your time in prison**."

Zangetsu was visibly enraged by this. "DAMN YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU, YOU FILTHY HOL-" Zangetsu roared as he faded into the hollow.

"H-Hey! What did you do?! I need him to protect my friends!" Ichigo questioned forcefully.

"**No, Ichigo, you don't need that lying bastard to protect your friends. Why would you need someone who won't even tell you his own name?**" Hollow responded, sounding particularly serious and sullen.

"W-What? What do you mean!? His name is Zangetsu!" Ichigo yelled, confused.

"**No Ichigo! Listen to me for once!**" His hollow pleaded. "**I Am Zangetsu!**"

Ichigo stepped back, thoroughly surprised. "Wait, you mean that YOU are my zanpakuto? Then who was the Old Man?!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"**The 'Old Man' was a hateful little bastard. From what I understand, Ichigo, he was the representation of one of your other powers, though I'm not completely sure which one.**" Zangetsu stated, feeling relieved at Ichigo's acceptance and irritation at the Old Man. "**Whatever he represented, he hated the idea of you being a shinigami, and didn't really like me. But first, Ichigo, we need to get our asses moving if we want to save Rukia. We can talk more later.**"

At this, the water drained out from the city, and Ichigo was taken with it, unknowing of what he'd see on the other side, and heard six words that he'll remember forever:

**"I'll always be with you...Partner"**

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There's chapter 1, I hope you've enjoyed. Again, reviews and suggestions are welcomed. I've only a basic outline (I really mean basic...It has no semblance of grammar or punctuation and is extremely general.) so ideas to make the story better would be appreciated; and even if I do not use them they will most likely give me the inspiration needed.

I've tried to portray my idea of how the spirits would act when stressed/serious/confronted, and tried to keep them as in-character as possible, if they aren't then you could blame it on the AU tag...

And yes, I know, short chapters are sometimes a turn off, but this is quite literally the first fanfic I've ever written, and I did these in a few hours. I'll probably come back later and flesh them out a bit more when I'm a better writer.

It's come to my attention that the name of this story is also a quote from Twilight. I will tell you all now it has nothing to do with Twilight, if it did it would've been in the crossovers category.

By the way, a nice little spoiler for you guys from the next chapter:

_The blade stopped hard. He looked at his target and froze in sheer terror._

_Sosuke Aizen looked at the small, papercut-like scratch on his finger, which had a single drop of blood drip off._

"_So you can cut me...Interesting."_


End file.
